Moscow surpasses London as billionaire epicenter

The old Russian proverb that ‘all money goes to Moscow’ has been validated by the most recent global billionaire hot spot poll, which places Europe’s largest city at number two.

Research firm WealthInsight’s report has ranked the top 20
cities where billionaires reside. The 2012 date puts New York on
top with 70, and Moscow a close second with 64. London, Hong Kong,
Beijing, Mumbai, Istanbul, Shanghai, Paris, and Los Angeles filled
the remaining top ten spots.

In 2011 and 2012 Forbes magazine crowned Moscow the
leading metropolis of billionaire inhabitants.

Rank

City

Number of
billionaires

1

New York (Manhattan)

70

2

Moscow

64

3

London

54

4

Hong Kong

40

5

Beijing

29

6

Mumbai

26

7

Istambul

24

8

Shanghai

23

9

Paris

22

10

Los Angeles

19

11

Shenzhen

19

12

Chicago

15

13

Singapore

13

14

Tokyo

12

15

Guangzhou

12

16

San Francisco

11

17

Dallas

11

18

Dubai

11

19

Houston

10

20

Sao Paulo

10

The figures conflict with the latest poll from the Chinese Hurun Research Institute
which reported 76 billionaires resided in Moscow. In terms of
multimillionaire hot spots, individuals with a net value of at
least $30 million and under $1 billion, Moscow misses the top
twenty. London is top of the list as the city with the most
multimillionaires (4,224) but Tokyo and Singapore follow in second
and third place respectively.

Moscow is only home to 101,000 millionaires in 20th place,
compared with the leader Tokyo (461,000), followed by New York,
which is home to 389,000 millionaires, and London, home to
281,000.

The wealthiest Muscovite is mining tycoon and Arsenal football
club co-owner, Alisher Usmanov, whose fortune is estimated at $19
billion.

Today the assets of the top 200 Russian businessmen are
estimated at $488.3 billion, accounting for about 85 percent of the
mega-wealthy.

Plenty of wealth resides in Moscow, but a lot of Russian
billionaires don’t reside in their homeland. Roman Abramovich, the
famed Chelsea football club owner, who has a fortune of $10.2
billion, currently lives in London.

Former national Sergey Brin, founder and CEO of Google, who
emigrated to the US at age six, and claims American citizenship.
Brin’s bank account far exceeds all his former compatriots, at
$22.8 billion.

A country rich in oil, energy, and precious metals, Russia’s
wealth is highly concentrated in the capital city. In 2011, 22.1
percent of the GDP came from Moscow, and 27.1 percent from the
Moscow region, according to RosStat, the official government
statistic bureau. According to the World Bank, Russia’s GDP is
$1.86 trillion.

Moscow has an official population close to 12 million, according
to the Federal State Statistics Service.The number is likely much
larger due to the recent influx of undocumented migrant
workers.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, state capital found its
ways into the hands of a very few powerful oligarchs, and the ‘new
money’ consolidated in Moscow.

A majority of Russia’s state-owned conglomerates have
headquarters in Moscow - Sberbank, VTB, Rosneft, Gazprom, Lukoil,
and Roscom all operate from the undisputed financial hub.